Swot, Tows, Internal & External Evaluation of Fashion and Apparel Companies

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SWOT

STRENGTH

- One stop shopping as they offer eclectic mix of merchandise like Apparels, accessories, footwear etc for Men, Women and Kids.

- Omni-channel retailing where they offer Buy and Pick-up in store services to its customers.

- Portfolio of famous and good brands. They have value retail brands such as R&B and premium brands such as Aldo, Call It Spring, Dune London etc.

- Kingdom of Saudi Arabia shipping time is least compared to its competitors.

- Higher management of 6THSTREET is well read and informed. They have hired people from e-commerce giants such as Net-a-porter, Namshi (renowned e-commerce of UAE) etc.

- The Apparel Group is very big and strong conglomerate and this helps the e-commerce company to capitalize on the renowned brand name of the group.

- Outsourced IT & Digital Marketing team. This helps to reduce the overhead cost associated with these departments.

- The only online seller of famous Charles & Keith products in UAE.

- Excellent customer service and loyalty program for its customers.

WEAKNESS

- They do not offer products from home and furnishings section.

- Small employee strength in 6THSTREET although the Apparel Group has strong workforce of 12000 multicultural staff.

- Outsourced IT Team: The development company is based in Bangalore, India. And thus, it become difficult to follow up with them on a regular interval.

- Although the brands are well known, the brands belong to Apparel Group only. They do not buy products from brands which do not belong to the apparel group.

- They do not have any separate buying team. They take help of the brand teams to get the business up & running and thus on this model its not possible for them to sell brands outside the Apparel Group.

- Shipping time for UAE is not at par with the competitors. Competitors like Namshi etc offer same day and next day delivery options.

- The Payment option does not include PayPal.

- They cannot sell many famous and high performing brands of 6THSTREET(UAE) in Saudi Arabia like ALDO, Call It Spring, Charles & Keith, Nine West etc because of permission issues.

OPPORTUNITIES

- They can capitalize on the 33 million population of the Saudi Arabia and other Middle East countries like Oman, Bahrain etc.

- The relatively young population of UAE is very tech-savvy, which allows companies all across the UAE to leverage technology.

- Increase in Disposable income of the families.

- Middle East and Africa (MEA) is the fastest-growing region in beauty and personal care products and the regional sector is set to grow at 6.4% a year over the next five years.

- UAE aims to be world hub of technology.

- 80 per cent of the online retailer’s customers shopped using mobile phones. The adoption of mobile e-commerce in the UAE is second only to China.

- UAE e-commerce industry is estimated to reach $10 billion (Dh36.7 billion) in value by 2018.

- Dubai has now been listed as the most cosmopolitan city in the world in a 2015 World Migration Report and around 83% of Dubai’s population are foreign born.

- 62% of global vs 75% of ME consumers believe that their interactions with brands on social media result in them purchasing more from their favorite brands.

THREAT

- E-commerce Competitors like Namshi, Farfetch etc offers products from various brands and also offer same day and one day delivery options.

- Since, the e-commerce is still at a nascent stage in Middle East and the strong presence of malls and brick and motor stores in UAE & other countries pose a huge threat to the e-commerce company as customers still want to try any merchandise before buying it.

- Entry of e-commerce giant, Amazon, in the market is a big threat to the budding company.

- The political instability of Middle East region. The Qatar crisis/coflict is a huge issue in UAE & Saudi Arabia where the e-commerce company operates.

- The introduction of VAT at 5% from 1st January, 2018 will affect the way people shop and the companies sell their products.

- More than 60% of UAE shoppers have shopped from other countries online and B2C cross Border E-commerce trade volume in Middle East and Africa is estimated to reach 26 Billion by 2020.

- 53% of ME consumers prefer in-store shopping as they can “see, touch and try” the products. Moreover, the issue of fit is resolved in in-store shopping.

- 40% of Middle East consumers have concern about the security of online shopping.

- 85% of online consumers in Middle East would rather pay cash on delivery, while only 15% opt to use their credit or debit card.

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TOWS MATRIX

STRENGTHS:

S1: One stop shopping as they offer eclectic mix of merchandise for Men, Women & Kids.

S2: Omni-channel retailing.

S3: Portfolio of famous including value retail brands and premium brands.

S4: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia shipping time is least compared to its competitors.

S5: Higher management of 6THSTREET is well read and informed.

S6: The Apparel Group is a strong conglomerate.

S7: Outsourced IT & Digital Marketing team..

S8: The only online seller of famous Charles & Keith products in UAE.

S9: Excellent customer